Rock Stars
by capm
Summary: It's the gals big break! They're going to be on a TV talent show! But something goes wrong and almost turns the TV spot into a disaster....
1. Chapter 1 Invitation

**Chapter 1 - Invitation**

"Did you get it?" asks an excited Sam.

"Yes! They want us to audition!" says Clover, in obvious joy.

"Totally rad! When's the audition?" asks an equally excited Alex.

"Tomorrow!" responds Clover.

Audition? What are the gals auditioning for?

The answer to these questions can be traced back to one of their earlier missions, when they 'played' as a front band for teen sensation (and Sebastian puppet) Ricky Mathis. At that time, WOOHP had designed a soundtrack that they were able to 'lip-synch' to, that was convincing enough to fool concertgoers into believing that the 'Spies' band was actually performing.

That experience piqued the girls' interest into actually learning to play a musical instrument. The gals gravitated to the instruments that they chose for the Ricky Mathis mission: Sam to the bass guitar; Clover to the electric guitar; and Alex to the drums. Interestingly, the girls started to take lessons, and practice their new instruments without one another's knowledge! Clover let the cat out of the bag, when she brought a backpack guitar with her on a mission quite a while later.

"I didn't know you could really play guitar, Clover!" said a surprised Alex.

"Well, I started taking lessons a while back, after the Ricky Mathis mission! I find it relaxing!" replied Clover.

"No way!" said Sam. "I started learning bass about the same time too!"

"Awesome!" added Alex. "I began learning drums at that time too!"

"Well, ladies! We usually have some 'dead time' on our missions, usually enroute to our destination! Why not bring your instruments, and maybe we can play together!" suggested Clover.

"Great idea, Clover!" enthused Sam.

"Totally! What shall we call our band?" asks an excited Alex.

"We already have a name! 'Spies'! It's so obvious, no one would suspect!" replied Clover.

"True! Even Sebastian didn't catch on, until we tried to stop his plan!" said Sam.

And so, the real birth of the band, 'Spies', occurred! Over the intervening missions, the gals had become quite good playing together. Clover was an accomplished guitarist, with both six and twelve string electric guitar. She even had a guitar with both six and twelve string necks on it! She could flawlessly switch between either, as the song demanded. Sam was also very good at bass: four, five and six string, although she usually stayed with the standard four string with the band. And Alex had become quite good at the drums! When the spies practiced at home, she had her traditional drum set with cymbals. But on the road, she would bring a small electronic drum pad, which was much easier to transport.

The gals wrote some of their own lyrics, too. The "Here We Go!" song heard on television introducing some of the episodes being their favorite. They also liked the instrumental opening for other episodes.

The audition the girls are bubbling about is for a new talent search show, _Teen Star_. The girls sent in an audition tape about one month ago, listing Clover's home address for a reply. The show's producers were favorably impressed with the audition tape, and want the band to audition in person now! If the audition goes well, they will be on national television for the show next week! They'll also have an opportunity to win the $30,000 Grand Prize!

The gals are understandably nervous the next day, when they show up at the _Teen Star_ studio, for their audition. They are instructed to report to Sound Stage 1, where they are to set up for the audition.

"I'm nervous!" say Alex, as she attaches her snare drum to its mount.

"Me too!" says Clover, as she nervously makes sure her guitar is in tune.

"We'll do all right, gals! It's just like performing in our garage, except the stage is bigger!" says Sam, as she tries to chase the butterflies away from her bandmates as well as herself. Sam is also tuning her bass, and checking the amplifiers for all the instruments.

Soon Max Clef arrives. He is the producer and host of _Teen Star_. His decision will determine if the gals make the show or not.

"Greeting, gals! Max Clef!" introduces Max, as he shakes all three gals' hands.

"Hi!" "How are you?" "How's it going?" the gals reply.

"I really liked your 'Here We Go!' song! I'd like you to play that for me now!"

Sam says, "All right, Spies! It's showtime!"

"SPIES? What makes you think we're spies?" blurts out a nervous Alex. Sam and Clover give her an exasperated look, and she recovers nicely. "Oh! Spies band! Right!" Max is a bit confused by the banter, but chalks it up to being nervous.

The gals break into their "Here We Go!" song, and play through flawlessly. Max is happily impressed.

"You gals rock! That was GREAT! You're definitely on the show for next week! Can you play me another song?" asks Max.

"Sure, Max! We can 'cover' the old Supremes' hit 'You Can't Hurry Love', if you like!" says Clover.

"Great! Let's hear it!" So the gals play the song, and Max thoroughly enjoys it! "Fantastic! Wonderful! I want you to play those two songs on the show Sunday!"

Max then turns to his assistant, Joe. "Joe! Assign the gals to a dressing room and practice studio! They should make for a great opening number and closing number on the show next week!"

"OK boss!" says Joe, as he leads the gals to their dressing room.

"You will use dressing room 4B and studio 2B for practice. You are expected to practice your numbers daily here, until the show, starting today."

"That's great, Joe! Thanks!" says Sam. The girls move their instruments to stage 2B and set them up for practice. They return to their dressing room in 4B, with soothing muzak playing in the background, and they initially talk excitedly about this opportunity.

"Just think!" says Clover, "WE may be the next hit band sensation!"

"That would be awesome!" says Sam.

But Alex seems a little troubled, "I hope we do well!"

Clover says, "Why not? We wrote the lyrics. We did the arranging. We'll do fine!"


	2. Chapter 2 What Happened?

**Chapter 2 – What Happened?**

The gals go to the practice studio, 2B.

"Make sure you turn on that strobe light in front of us, Sammy!" says Alex.

"Right! We need to get used to it! We'll have a strobe flashing in front of us for the show!" replies Sam, as she turns the strobe light on.

"All set, Spies?" asks Clover, as the gals get ready to start practicing.

"SPIES?" remarks Alex. But once again Clover and Sam give her a glance, and she recovers, "Oh! Yeah! All set!"

But practice doesn't go as well as planned. Clover is misplaying chords throughout the session, Sam is missing the bass line about every third measure, and Alex is missing about every fourth drumbeat. In addition, the girls are having a hard time harmonizing and getting their timing down.

"That was a disaster!" says Clover as the practice session mercifully comes to an end, and the girls return to their dressing room.

"What happened? We know the songs like the back of our hands, yet we played it worst than the first time we tried!" exclaims Alex.

"Maybe it's the strobe light and the novelty of the experience. We'll do better tomorrow," says Sam reassurungly, as the girls leave the studio for home.

"We sure can't do any worse!" says Clover.

But Clover is wrong. The practice the next day goes much worse! Clover misses about every chord, Sam misses almost all of the bass line and Alex keeps change the drumbeat, throwing everything off! It's as if they never played their instruments before!

"I can't believe it!" remarks Alex agitatedly. "I played worse than the first time I took up the drums!"

"Not as bad as my bass playing!" remarks a tense Sam.

"What's gotten into us?" asks a thoroughly puzzled Clover. "I can't even play simple chords anymore!"

The band experience is also starting to affect their personal lives as well. There is an Honors Biology exam the following day, Sam's best subject. But when the grades are given out the next day, Sam failed the exam!

"Sammy? That's so unlike you!" says Alex, hearing about the result.

"What happened, Sam?" asks a concerned Clover.

"I....I don't know, gals! On almost every question I got wrong, I initially had the correct answer, but changed it because I was unsure of myself!" Sam responds sadly. All three of the gals then trudged to their next class.

Clover takes a hit during the final rehearsals for the school play, "Romeo and Juliet". She had won the role of Juliet, but the rehearsal is going poorly. Witness part of the balcony scene.

"Romeo! Romeo!........Are you there?" Clover blunders.

"CUT!!!!!" shouts the play director.

"Clover! You know that line is 'Romeo! Romeo! Where for art thou, Romeo?' not 'Are you there?'!" the director continues.

"I....I know, Mr. Anderson! I wasn't sure!"

"I'm afraid I'll have to give the starring role of Juliet to your understudy, Mandy, unless you improve! Pity! You were doing so well before, too!!!"

Mandy smiles cattily. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaa! I knew I should have gotten that part anyways! I'm destined to be a star!" she comments loudly to her friends, but was aiming the remark at Clover. Clover hangs her head and trudges off sadly without a retort.

Alex too is having problems. The school is having their annual aerobics competition in the Advance Aerobics class. Alex is the reigning champion. But the first round goes poorly for her. She can't even perform the simplest aerobic exercise!

"Alex, I'm afraid you are disqualified from the competition this year!" says Ms. Grieves sadly. "Your movement was so awkward and clumsy! Are you injured?"

"No, Ms. Grieves. I...I just wasn't sure of the moves to make!" says a crestfallen Alex as she heads toward the showers.

And so it goes for the gals as the week continues. Their confidence has taken a major hit.


	3. Chapter 3 Mission Impossible?

**Chapter 3 – Mission Impossible?**

It isn't long before the gals are WOOHP'd.

"I have an easy mission for a change for you girls. You need to act as the secondary escort to the Premier of Artistan! He'll be traveling from his hotel room to the United Nations one block away. He will have his full retinue of bodyguards; you're just there to provide additional support, if needed," says Jerry.

But before Jerry can get into the issuing of the gadgets, he senses that something is very wrong. Instead of his usual, ready to go, take on the world spy team, he is faced with three uncertain, no confidence, confused teen girls.

His concern is confirmed when Sam startles him by saying, "Jerry, I don't think I can do this mission!"

"Nor do I!" adds Clover.

"Me neither!" says Alex.

"Girls, what's wrong?" a very concerned Jerry asks.

"I...just can't do this spy stuff anymore!" responds a sad Sam.

"I wouldn't know where to begin," remarks a crestfallen Alex.

"Maybe it would be better if we resigned!" says a very sad Clover. Sam and Alex agree, and all three sadly put their compowders on Jerry's desk, and start to leave with tears welling in their eyes.

"Girls! Wait! Why not think about it for a week? You don't need to make a decision today!" Jerry says. The girls agree as they exit his office without their compowders.

Jerry definitely knows something is wrong. He discreetly dons a disguise and heads to Beverly Hills High to begin his investigation. He heads to the Honors Biology class first, and overhears the following conversation:

"Do you believe it? An easy test like that one on Tuesday, and Sam failed it! I can't believe it!"

"Me neither! Heck, I even pulled an 85! That's my highest grade ever in that class!"

"I wonder what's gotten into Sam?"

"I don't know, but she sure hasn't been herself since Monday!"

Jerry then wanders over to the Advance Aerobics class and hears:

"I'm the new Aerobic Champion at Bev High!" brags Mandy to her friends.

"That wannabe, Alex, was no match for me!" she continues.

One of her friends says, "You totally intimidated her, Mandy! She didn't even get out of the first round!"

Another student remarks, "I wonder what happened to Alex? She hasn't been herself since Monday! She looked so clumsy in the competition! She said she wasn't hurt, but I wonder what is wrong!"

Finally, Jerry heads over to the rehearsals for the school play.

"Can you BELIEVE Mandy as Juliet?" one student grouses.

"Yeah! This play is going to reek! Clover is the better actress!"

"Well, not since Monday! She can't even remember her lines or her cues!"

"True! I wonder what happened?"

"I don't know, but this play is going to totally crash and burn now!"

Jerry knows where he has to start, now. Something happened Monday. Jerry returns to his WOOHP office, and hacks into Sam's computer calendar with his portable. He quickly takes a snapshot of Monday and the rest of the week and logs off. He does the same for Clover and Alex's calendars too. On examining the calendars, he notes their audition for _Teen Star_ on Monday, and their scheduled practices for the remainder of the week at the _Teen Star_ sound stage.

Jerry dons a disguise as a janitor, and decides to pay a quick visit to the _Teen Star_ studios.


	4. Chapter 4 Stop! Look! What's That Sound...

**Chapter 4 – Stop! Look! What's That Sound?**

Jerry is able to arrive at the studio about 15 minutes before the girls do. He suspects some treachery in the dressing room or the sound stage, so he brought two high speed tape recorders, planting one in Dressing Room 4B and the other on Sound Stage 2B. He also brought a high-speed video camera and stealthily deploys it behind the girls' positions in the Sound Stage. He then disappears – he doesn't want the girls to see him!

The girls arrive for their practice session, very sad. They meet in the dressing room.

"Well gals, ready to go!" says Clover with false bravado.

"Yeah, right into the dumpster!" remarks Sam.

"If we don't play better, that's where the studio audience is going to throw us, this Sunday!" exclaims Alex.

The gals trudge off to the practice stage, turn on the strobe, and start practicing. This one is another stinker. Jerry can see that the girls are experiencing a total lack of confidence, from his hiding place. As the session ends, the girls quietly walk to their dressing room.

"Gals, if that's the best we can do, I say we withdraw from the show!" says a subdued Sam.

"I agree!" says a sad Clover.

"Me too! We don't want to make a fool out of ourselves on National television!" adds Alex sadly.

"Let's give it one more chance, tomorrow. If it's more of the same, we tell Max we are dropping out of the show!" says Sam.

After the gals leave their dressing room, Jerry enters and reclaims his tape recorder. He does the same on the sound stage, and gets his camera too. He takes the equipment back to WOOHP for analysis.

At WOOHP, Jerry dons special glasses. He wants to protect himself from what he suspects is affecting his spies. He slows the tape recordings down to approximately one-fiftieth speed, and starts to smile. He also does the same to the strobe. He now knows what is wrong!

Quickly Jerry remasters the muzak tape and programs a replacement strobe light. He then goes back to the studio and switches out the current muzak tape and strobe light with his remasters. He'll go back tomorrow evening to his hiding place in Studio 2B and see if he has corrected the problem.

The next day the spies decide to practice once more.

Before they enter their dressing room they comment, "I don't know if it will do any good!" says Clover.

"Well, if we aren't any better, we'll just pull out of the show," says Sam.

"Yeah, we don't want to look like fools!" says Alex.

But their mood starts changing in their dressing room. "I don't care what happened in the past! I'm going to give it everything I have today, and let the chips fall where they may!" exclaims Alex with a verve she hasn't shown all week.

"Maybe your right, Alex. We have to forget the blunders and go out there and wow them!" says Clover with happy determination.

"Come on gals! Let's make this sound stage rock!!" says an equally determined and happy Sam.

And they do. Everything goes better than good. No notes are missed, they harmonize beautifully, and they even throw in some improvisation. Their confidence is back!! To make sure, they play through their numbers again. Perfect again! Even better than the first time today! Jerry smiles in his hiding place as the girls go to their dressing room.

"We ROCKED!" says Sam exuberantly.

"That was THE best!" says Alex happily.

"Totally! We're going to be a big hit Sunday!" says Clover joyfully.

And on Friday, things get better at school too. There is another test in Honor Biology, and the students will grade each other's papers. The exam is a total bear! But when the dust settles, Sam scores a perfect 100. It is the only A or B on the exam.

"Now that's more like it!" Sam says with relief, as she shows her exam to Clover and Alex.

"I'll say, Sammy! You're back to your old self!" says Alex.

But Mandy, hearing Sam is her old self, wants to put Alex in her place. "Well FORMER Aerobics Champ, want to take on the current Champ? Or are you afraid of how bad I'll beat you?"

Clover answers, "Plllleeeaaaaaseee Mandy! Alex can aerobic circles around you!"

"Well, what do YOU say, loser?" Mandy comments to Alex.

Alex sees red. "You're on Mandy! I'll take you on right now!"

Mandy is so confident in her victory, she doesn't even warm up. Alex goes through her warm-up routine and comes out ready! Ms. Grieves will referee the challenge, and three students will award points. But Alex is her old self too. She annihilates Mandy by outscoring her 10 to 1!

"It was a fix!! I should have won!!" screeches Mandy.

Ms. Grieve intervenes, "No it wasn't Mandy! According to competition scoring, the results are correct! I secretly kept a score myself to ensure that there wasn't any cheating, and to be quite honest, the student judges were more generous to your performance than I was! I had Alex beating you by 14 to 1!"

Alex receives the hearty congratulations of the class, as Mandy storms off.

On hearing of her victory, Sam says, "Great job, Alex! You're back to your old self too!"

"I'll say," says Clover. "I hear you beat the stuffing out of Mandy!"

"Thanks, girlfriends! Now let's go to the rehearsal for the play and cheer on Clover!" says a very happy Alex.

Sam and Alex sit in the audience as the rehearsal begins. Clover is magnificent! She remembers all of her lines, responds properly to all of her cues, and evokes tears from the play director in her death scene.

"Marvelous, Clover! Marvelous! That's the Juliet I want to see next week! You are back as the star! Mandy, you're the understudy again!"

"WHAAAAAAT? You're giving my part to this talentless wannabee?" Mandy screeches.

"Based on the performances today, that 'talentless wannabee', is going to be the star of our play! You, young lady, need to spend more time on properly responding to your cues, and putting more emotion in your lines!" responds Mr. Anderson. Mandy sulks away.

"Clover! You were FANTASTIC!" says Alex, as she hugs Clover's neck after the rehearsal.

"I'll say!" says Sam. "That's the best Juliet I have ever seen!" congratulates Sam as she also hugs Clover around the neck.

"Thanks, gals! You know, since we practiced our music yesterday so well, we all seem to be ourselves again! Ready to hit the practice stage again?"

"You bet!" says Alex.

"Let's ROCK!" says Sam.

And the girls go to the _Teen Star_ studio to practice. It's like a switch was turned on in their head! This practice was even better then yesterday's and Saturday's is the best yet! They are brimming with confidence, as they look forward to the show tomorrow!


	5. Chapter 5 We're Gonna Rock This Town!

**Chapter 5 - We're Gonna Rock This Town!**

Sunday is the big _Teen Star_ show! The gals color coordinate, as each is wearing a red and pink outfit: Sam has on her red halter top, with pink pants and shoes; Clover has on her red halter top, under her pink blouse tied at the waist, and pink pants and shoes; and Alex has on her red halter top, with spaghetti strap around the neck, with pink pants and shoes. All three gals are wearing pink sunglasses.

The gals open the show with the "You Can't Hurry Love!" number. Clover improvises a bit on the guitar, as does Sam on bass and Alex on drums, adding their own flavor to the song! The crowd goes wild! They love it! The gals are called back for three curtain calls before they can go to their dressing room.

"We ROCKED!!" Alex says exuberantly.

"We sure did!" says Clover happily.

"And I think we'll be even better with our last number!" says Sam confidently.

Max Clef personally introduces the group for the shows final number. "...and now, the group you've all been waiting for! The Spies singing their own song, 'Here We Go'. Here they are!... The fabulous Spies!!!!!!"

The gals take a polite bow together and tear into their song. They are really pouring themselves into it! Clover does a one minute improvisation between verses one and two on her guitar. Sam also does a one minute improvisation between verses two and three on her bass. Alex finishes the song with a thirty-second drum improvisational flurry! As the gals finish, the crowd is going crazy!! They've brought the house down! They can't get off the stage! Roars of "Encore! Encore!" are heard repeatedly!

It takes Max Clef five minutes to calm the crowd down, to let them know who the winner was that night! "Ladies and Gentlemen! It is now time to award the $30,000 prize and trophy to the winning act tonight! And it goes to, as if there was any doubt, THE SPIES!!!!!!"

The gals are spellbound and happy! They won! THEY WON!!!! WOWWWWW! They three gals run on to the stage next to Max! Clover accepts the trophy and Sam accepts the check for the band. The gals take a big bow, and blow kisses to the audience! The roar of the crowd is deafening! Once again, they can't get off the stage! The crowd positively LOVES them!

The gals ride their high all week! Everything is going their way! On Friday, as they walk past a locker, they get WOOHP'd.

Jerry begins, "Before we discuss your status with WOOHP, I'd like you to know what happened to you last week. When you auditioned, Joe assigned you to a specific dressing room and sound stage. What Joe didn't let you know is that his girlfriend was going to be on the show, and he was going to do everything he could to make her the winner. In the muzak in your dressing room were these subliminal messages," Jerry slows the muzak down to a crawl, and the startled gals hear 'You constantly miss beats. You always miss chords. You cannot harmonize. You are pitiful.'

"These messages were repeated 60 times a minute, so the more time you spent in the dressing room, the more your subconscious was bombarded with the negative messages. Joe also planted subliminal messages in the strobe as well," and Jerry slows the strobe to a crawl, and the gals see 'You can't win. You can't do anything right. You are terrible. You stink. You are brainless and uncoordinated.

"So you see Joe now was visually reinforcing the negative message you heard in your dressing room, also at 60 times a minute. With over an hour of this bombardment, your confidence took a major hit!"

"But Jerry", says Sam, "we snapped out of it the Thursday before the performance!"

"I know," says Jerry. "You see, I remastered the muzak tape, and the strobe messages. This is what they said after the remaster."

And the girls hear on the muzak tape 'You are the best!' 'Yesterday is history, tomorrow an unknown, but YOU can control the present!' 'You are talented musicians and singers. There is no one better than you!' and see in the strobe messages, 'No one can beat you!' 'You will be perfect!' 'You'll be so good you will improvise on stage perfectly!' 'You are the best!'

The girls get off of their landing cushion and give Jerry a big group hug and thank you.

"Jerry, I know helping a band isn't 'official WOOHP business'! Thanks!" says Sam as she gives Jerry her part of the group hug.

"Jerry, you rock!" says Clover as she gives Jerry her part of the group hug.

"You're such a good friend! Thank you!" says Alex as she gives her part of the group hug.

Jerry's face flushes a little with embarrassment, but he smiles as he says, "I was happy to do it, ladies!"

As the girls release him from their group hug, Jerry asks with a big smile, "Do I take it you want these back?" as he produces their compowders.

"You bet, Jerry!" says Sam as she takes hers happily.

"You can't be rid of us that easily!" says Clover with a smile, as she takes hers.

"Life would be pretty boring without you, Jerry!" says a smiling Alex as she claims hers.

"Splendid ladies! I am very happy to have my number one spy team back as well!"

With that, Jerry wishes the gals a good weekend. As they confidently leave his office laughing and smiling, the spies head home. They needed to get ready for the school dance tonight!


End file.
